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SALT LAKE CITY – The Westminster College women's volleyball travels to Helena, Mont. this week for the Frontier Conference Tournament.  Westminster is the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will play Great Falls, the fifth seed, in the quarterfinals.  That match will be played at 2 p.m. on Friday in the Carroll PE Center.

Griffin Notebook
Westminster begins the conference tournament after going 11-14 during the regular season and earned the fourth seed by going 8-6 in the Frontier Conference.  They enter the weekend coming off a 3-1 home loss to No. 8 Lewis-Clark State that snapped a four-match winning streak.

The Griffins are fourth in the Frontier with an average of 11.87 kills per set while hitting .180 this season.  They are third in the league with 979 assists and fourth with 141 service aces.  Westminster also averages 15.9 digs per set to rank third in the league.

Ashley Marchant has a team-best 250 kills and is fifth in the Frontier in that department.  Marchant is hitting .192 and also ranks fifth with an average of 2.78 kills per set.  Kenzie Mitchell leads the squad with a .222 hitting efficiency and second on the team with 194 kills.

Emily Atkinson is second in the Frontier with 865 total assists and an average of 9.61 per set.  Katie Vance is tops of the Griffins with 30 service aces and 59 blocks.  Kyndall Kordakis is second in the Frontier with 396 digs and her 4.4 per set average.

Game Coverage
Every match of the Frontier Tournament will feature live stats video streaming thanks to the Carroll Athletic Department.  Links to the live stats and video stream can be found below the calendar at WestminsterGriffins.com or under the tournaments tab at dakstats.com/naia.

Friday's Opponent: Great Falls Argonauts
Great Falls enters the tournament after posting a 21-9 overall record during the regular season.  The Argonauts went 6-8 during league play to claim the fifth seed for the tournament.  They lost four straight matches to end the regular season and suffered a 3-0 sweep in three straight.

Kelsey VanUden leads the team with 366 kills while hitting .289 during the year.  VanUden posted double figures in kills during 20 matches and nine times had at least 15 kills.  Taylor Lucero recorded 287 kills with a .306 hitting efficiency while Alyssa McEwan has 217 kills.  Kyah Piva has 449 digs to lead the Argos while Kila Adams has a team-best 36 service aces.

Inside the Series
With two wins during the season, Westminster is now 14-3 against UGF since 2004.  The Griffins have won four straight in the series and have twice defeated the Argos three times during one season.  Westminster won the match in SLC 3-2 on Sept. 24 and then swept the match in Great Falls on Oct. 29.

Tracking the Semi-Finals
Should Westminster advance to the semi-finals of the conference tournament, they will face the winner of the Lewis-Clark State vs. Montana Tech match.  That semi-final game will be played at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning with the winner moving to the championship match at 7 p.m.  The Griffins dropped both matches with LCSC during the year while picking up wins in the two matches over Tech.

At the Frontier Tournament
Since 2006, Westminster has posted a 5-5 record during the Frontier Conference Tournament.  During that stretch the Griffins have advanced to the title game twice and made the semi-finals another time.  Last year, Westminster opened the event with a 3-1 win over Montana tech before falling in four sets to LCSC in the semi-finals.

Setting the Tone
Sophomore setter Atkinson is second in the Frontier Conference with 865 assists and with an average of 9.61 per set.  She is 35th in the NAIA with that per set average and she can also be found in the Frontier top 20 in service aces and digs.  Atkinson has 28 aces to rank ninth in the league while her 0.31 aces per set is sixth.   With 229 digs she is 13th in the conference with an average of 2.54 per set to place her in 13th.

Against San Diego Christian on Sept. 2, Atkinson became just the third player in school history to surpass the 1,000 career assist mark.  She currently has 1,688 assists in her career and ranks second in school history in that department.  Her 9.22 assists per set is the highest average for a career in Westminster history.

On the Attack
Junior outside hitter Marchant has recorded a team-leading 250 kills during the season.  That total ranks 10th for a season in school history and she is 13 shy of moving into ninth.  Marchant is fifth in the league at 2.78 kills per set and is also fifth in total kills.  She also ranks 10th in the league in service aces and 14th in digs.

Marchant has 472 kills in her career and has moved into fifth in school history in that department.  She is 146 kills shy of moving into the No. 4 spot.  She also sits fifth overall with an average of 2.26 kills per set and her 1,401 career attempts is good for fifth.

Checking in with Kordakis
Sophomore libero Kordakis is again having a stellar season as the anchor of the Westminster defense.  Kordakis is second in the Frontier with 396 digs and her 4.40 digs per set is good for second in the league.  She has recorded double figures in digs 21 times this season and gone for 20-plus six times.

Kordakis is fifth in school history with 788 digs during her career and is 45 digs shy of moving into the fourth position.  Her 396 digs this season rank fifth for a season in school history ad surpassed her career high of 392 she had last season.

Serve and Defend
Sophomore Katie Vance is having a stellar season at the service line.  Vance leads the team with 30 service aces and ranks sixth in the Frontier with that total.  Her 0.34 aces per set is the fourth-best average in the league. 

Vance also leads the Griffins and ranks eighth in the Frontier with 59 total blocks.  Her 0.68 blocks per set is the seventh-best average in the conference and also a team high.  Vance has seven matches this season with at least four blocks and has recorded at least one block in 20 matches.  She ranks sixth in school history with 124 total blocks and second in blocks per set at 0.71.

Massey Ratings
Westminster is rated 56th in the latest Massey Ratings and dropped two spots from the previous week.  The Griffins have a 0.384 rating and are rated fifth among teams in the Frontier.  The ratings list the Griffins as having played the eighth-toughest schedule overall.

The Massey Ratings are compiled each week with new ranking being released on Sundays.  Kenneth Massey is the creator of the rating formula and all ratings can be found on his web site at www.masseyratings.com.